CMNT_TITLE

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Pakistan (RATIFICATION: 1957)

Other comments on C029

Observation

Direct Request

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Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. The Committee previously noted the Government’s Anti-Human Trafficking report for 2009, which indicated that 21,735 cases against human traffickers had been registered until 31 October 2009, which resulted in 3,371 convictions.

The Committee notes the information from the Ministry of the Interior, submitted with the Government’s report, that under the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (2002), there were 12 convictions and 14 acquittals in 2012, and eight convictions and four acquittals in the first half of 2013. In 2012, there were 440 cases pending, and 475 such cases as of June 2013. The Committee also notes the information from UNODC that Pakistan is a source, transit, and destination country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and sexual exploitation, with trafficking for forced labour being more widespread. The Committee requests the Government to pursue its efforts to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, and to provide information on measures taken in this regard, as well as measures taken to provide victims of trafficking with appropriate protection and services. Noting the significant number of pending cases, the Committee requests the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure that, in practice, persons who commit trafficking offences are subject to robust prosecutions and sufficiently adequate and dissuasive penalties. In this regard, it requests the Government to continue to provide statistics on the number of trafficking cases registered under the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (2002), as well as the number of prosecutions, convictions and the specific penalties imposed.